It was an iron box the size of a thirty-two-mo book, about two fingers thick, with a quite exquisite surface engraved with the national flower of Lande, the rose. It even had a clasp on the side, resembling a fine piece of art.
It had clearly been there for a long time, showing signs of having frozen to the ground. Lynch used some effort to pry it loose, and when he tried to touch it with his fingers, the surface felt bone-chillingly cold.
"Though unexpected, this is not impossible." Miss Valente stared straight at the iron box, frowning as she fell into deep thought.
"Mm, a sacrifice every twenty years; it cannot be ruled out that someone left their belongings here at some point."
"Then this person was certainly no ordinary individual, and their strength was not low—at least stronger than you and me combined."
"Right, evading the attacks of the Formless Children and ghouls, jumping down from the shaft without being smashed to death."
"And being able to come in and face an evil god, with enough energy left to hide their things. Someone with even slightly less strength could not have managed this."
The two of them, with a tacit understanding, spoke one sentence after another, their speed increasing, yet their logic remained perfectly clear.
"But how did they get in? Each sacrifice involves cooperation from your Valente family. Does your family have no records of this?"
"None. The sacrifice is actually quite complex, and highly random; otherwise, we would have long since tried using death row inmates as offerings. It is difficult to determine who within the range is pulled in. The only thing certain is that only humans are affected, and Elder Nikolai and his kind do not enter. So, it is highly likely this person was accidentally dragged in."
"That is not very likely. They should have been prepared in advance."
"Mm... you're right. Even for a powerful person, to be inexplicably plunged into this kind of situation, it would be hard not to panic. To be able to walk here so methodically, they must have had psychological preparation."
"Yes, especially when walking along and suddenly colliding head-on with an avatar of an evil god. Such an unexpected stimulus is too intense. In any case, I doubt I could have remained calm enough to discover this corner and hide the items here."
"This hole is indeed very hidden; it would be difficult to even find it. Their behavior should not have been an unconscious, crazed act; it was likely a keepsake they deliberately intended to leave behind."
"So, now for the biggest problem." Lynch’s gaze met Miss Valente’s, and he tapped the iron box with his finger. "Things that have coexisted with an evil god’s avatar for at least twenty years—can we even open them?"
"There is a great deal of danger. The contents here have likely become mysterious, and there is even the possibility of mysterious anomalies appearing. Opening it rashly is truly too dangerous. It would be best to take it back and open it only after setting up proper protection. You wish to open it now? What is the reason?"
"Because we have reached a stalemate, and we have no other choice. We need to find a countermeasure now."
"Your reasoning is indeed sound. In the world of mystery, there are no coincidences. Any accident might break the stalemate, and its appearance is the greatest accident of all." Miss Valente nodded thoughtfully, signaling Lynch to hand her the box. After receiving it, she turned it over and looked at it several times. "I wanted to try divination, but near this avatar, no divination can take effect; the interference is too strong. Forget it, I will open it directly. I have the Shield of Piety, so I can at least block it if I encounter danger."
"Wait, stop, what is that?" Lynch’s expression suddenly changed, his pupils contracted, and he even lowered his voice. "Careful, make your movements smaller."
"What?" Miss Valente’s heart tightened. She held her breath, holding the box aloft in mid-air with both hands, not daring to make any other move. She only scanned the box with her gaze, unsure if it was the angle, but she discovered nothing unusual.
"Don't move, absolutely do not move. I will point it out to you."
Lynch’s movements were also very slow. He cautiously took the iron box, suddenly smiled at Miss Valente, and made a shushing gesture: "Cover me."
Saying this, he turned the box toward the wall, gritted his teeth, and hid behind the back of the box to open the lid.
If it were a sturdy meat shield like Officer Natalie, that would be one thing, but to let a researcher stand in front was something Lynch truly couldn't bring himself to do. Besides, if he got into trouble, there was still a healer to patch him back together; if the healer got into trouble, it would be all over.
"You!" Miss Valente’s eyes nearly popped out, and she gritted her teeth viciously. But facing the accomplished fact, she couldn't argue, so she could only aim her gun at the direction of the box immediately.
One second, two seconds, three seconds.
Phew, it seems it is safe. Lynch secretly wiped away a cold sweat.
The power of gunpowder in this world didn't make him worry about an immediate explosion; what he feared was some monster crawling out. For this, Lynch had long been psychologically prepared to draw his gun and fight for his life at any moment. Fortunately, there was not a single sound.
No, it was not safe. A sound of grinding teeth came from beside him.
Turning his head, he saw Miss Valente looking at him with a complex and fierce gaze, gritting her teeth as she said: "You are too much, Mr. Levive. Even if you wanted to open it yourself, you could have persuaded me first. How could you do something like this?"
"Could I have persuaded you to hand it over for me to open?"
"Of course not."
"But now you can." Lynch smiled cunningly. However, once he thought about how the feeling of his head being blown apart by a shotgun would be very painful, he quickly pointed to the box in his hand. "It's open. Let's look at the contents first."
"Hmph." Secretly wrinkling her nose, Miss Valente gave a stealthy, playful kick, but a smile still appeared at the corner of her mouth. She crowded next to Lynch, keeping her guard up, and watched as he cautiously fished out the contents.
The first things taken out were several sheets of letter paper, the handwriting on which became more and more messy with each line, ending up like graffiti.
"I don't know if anyone can see this letter. If you do, please complete the mission I could not."
"I am Charles Finit, honorary knight of the Kingdom of Friedman, special consultant to the Archaeological Association, and a soul severer of the Church of the Sun. It is now August 11, 1379."
"I successfully infiltrated according to the method of Mr. Black Spider. It turns out everything he said was true. These hillmen are really secretly sacrificing to Mordiggian in the dark, and the Lande royal family seems to be involved as well."
"I don't know what kind of conspiracy they have, but these despicable Lande people are capable of anything. No wonder Mr. Black Spider said I must destroy the avatar of the Great Old One to completely resolve the hidden dangers of Middle Earth. But why are my attacks ineffective against this avatar? I have confronted avatars of Great Old Ones more than once and have never encountered such a situation."
"It's no use. No matter how many times I try, I cannot affect the avatar of the Great Old One. I have tested various means; the avatar seems as if it does not exist, yet its filth is real and concrete—it is definitely not my hallucination. What on earth is going on? I must seek help from Mr. Black Spider once. I hope I can still contact him from here."
"Oh, no, it requires multiple people to cooperate? How can that be? Why didn't you say so earlier? Where am I supposed to find people to help now? Damn it, damn it, damn it! This must be a trap!"
The last line of text was written quite twisted and messy, and after that, there was not another character.
Looking at this strange letter, the two stared at each other. For a moment, they only felt that the situation was becoming increasingly thorny. It seemed they were not the first to encounter this predicament; this Mr. Finit had likely encountered the same situation and then ended up trapped to death here.
Could it be that the two of them would meet the same end?
Miss Valente clutched her folding fan tightly, bit her lip, and asked in a low voice: "Is there anything else?"
Lynch pursed his lips with a strange expression, sighed lightly, and pulled another item from the box.
A small picture frame.
Empty.
Rate on N.U.
